The scorching heat on the deck and the coolness of the water were distinctly separated.
The tattooed men in black set the small ferry on fire, bullets whizzed through the crowd, mixing the ladies' screams with the sound of breaking planks.
"We can't stay on the ship, listen to me: these Bandits sneaked aboard in small boats, let's go to the stern, if we're lucky..." OConnell, with a gun bag slung over his shoulder, held a gun in his left hand and pulled Evelyn with his right—
Evelyn pulled Mori Tsukisa, and Mori Tsukisa pulled Nagini.
The four people thus formed a strange kite string... standing obediently in a line on the chaotic deck.
Only Jonathan stretched out his hand miserably, retracted it, and scratched his head.
"Can someone pull me along?"
OConnell shrugged, staring at Evelyn, while Nagini looked toward Mori Tsukisa.
"You're coming with us!" Evelyn gripped OConnell's arm worriedly; the girl clearly held considerable affection for the man: "Don't go help those American Cowboys!"
Evelyn was referring to the American counterparts who were cheerfully engaging in a gunfight with the men in black while shouting.
They were tirelessly exchanging shots, excited beyond measure.
"Yes, yes, I have to protect you, Miss Evelyn." OConnell patted the back of Evelyn's hand soothingly, then looked at Mori Tsukisa: "And there's a Child here. I don't like war, don't mistake me for those war maniacs from old Britain."
"I didn't bring a lute, so can the two of you postpone your honeymoon until after we escape?" Jonathan rolled his eyes. "The stern is right behind us; you can kiss while you walk."
"bari bari!" Mori Tsukisa shook both of her hands: "I'm starting to get hot, why don't we just swim over?"
This ferry engulfed in flames was beyond saving. After the Captain ordered it to shore, the distance to the bank was getting shorter—if one was a good swimmer, there wasn't much danger.
"Let's see first."
OConnell loaded his gun, pulling the string of girls along the cabin side toward the stern. Jonathan also wanted to join, tentatively reaching out to grab Nagini.
The other party gave him a cold glance.
"Ahem, I'm afraid of getting lost..." The man grinned awkwardly: "My sense of direction is terrible, Little Forest knows..."
Then... Mori Tsukisa also looked over.
Jonathan shook his leg, quickly retracted his hand, and awkwardly forced a smile: "You look really good today, Little Forest."
...The group was lucky. A wooden boat was hanging on the railing of the ferry's gunwale, and the small iron hook was about to shake loose. OConnell let go of his grip, ran over quickly, skillfully grabbed the hook and secured it, then turned to urge the ladies behind him.
"Jump down! Hurry! Jump down, onto the wood one!"
"Alright, alright, I can do it..." Evelyn stood hesitantly at the stern, looking down. Black waves crashed up, spraying damp mist onto her face.
"I can do it... I can."
"I need to find the sun golden scripture..."
Mori Tsukisa tilted her ear—she could already hear the crackling sound of the flames close by.
"Can you swim, Nana?"
Nagini smiled and nodded: "Creatures in the jungle all know how to a little."
"Oh right, I almost forgot." After asking Nagini, Mori Tsukisa took a step forward and whispered into Evelyn's ear: "Sister, your dress..."
"Is it strong?"
The woman, who was still taking deep breaths to psych herself up, turned around in surprise, "Huh?"
"Strong? Of course... but..."
A certain scene was replaying.
Mori Tsukisa smilingly picked up Evelyn, bent down, and quickly ran forward!
"One... Two..."
"Mori Tsukisa! Stop! Don't do that! I c-can do it myself!"
"Three!"
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
Splash.
"Hahaha! Let's go, let's go! Nagini!" After tossing her loud-voiced sister down, Mori Tsukisa squatted firmly on the railing and waved goodbye: "I'm going down first!"
The girl showed her white teeth, leaned back into the wind—and vanished over the stern.
"Sh-sh-she... she just went down?"
Jonathan held his hat, feeling reluctant about his brand new suit.
OConnell couldn't wait any longer.
"Quick! Jump! Jonathan!" He was about to lose his grip on the hook: "Hurry up! Do you want to swim instead?!"
"Jonathan!"
Nagini glanced indifferently at the shouting idiot man, silently slid to the railing, and leaped down—
Although it was a small ferry, it still had some height. When jumping from the stern, the wind briefly burst into a whistle by her ears!
Then, Nagini fell into a soft embrace.
"Ahaha, I knew I could catch you!"
On the rocking wooden boat, a soaking wet Evelyn sat in the center hugging her legs. Mori Tsukisa didn't have a drop of Water on her: she had landed directly on the wooden boat instead of climbing up after falling into the Water.
Splash!
Splash.
The last two sounds.
OConnell struggled to swim over, dragging a fish-like Jonathan. Mori Tsukisa and Evelyn each grabbed one and hauled them onto the wooden boat.
The iron hook came loose.
Snap.
In an instant, a great distance opened up between the ferry and the wooden boat. In the eyes of the group, the burning merchant ship sped forward, leaving them behind.
"I hope Benny and his American Fathers can find a suitable landing spot."
Before jumping ship, OConnell saw that red hat.
That cowardly Mr. Benny of his, who abandoned his teammates resulting in multiple deaths... splash, splash.
The still Water, like black silk, slowly pushed the wooden boat.
The still-shaken group silently gazed at the Moon or the Moonlight reflected on the Water's surface. Even the usually talkative Jonathan remained quiet, clutching his travel case.
Gradually, a thin layer of fog rose on the Water's surface.
The dim light became hazy. The raised bow of the wooden boat, like the edge of a blunt sword, clumsily cut through the moisture and the mist. The previously vast field of vision became very narrow—yet the people on the small boat enveloped by the fog simultaneously felt a strange sense of security.
Nagini held Mori Tsukisa close, staring at the Water's surface, her voice so low that only the girl in her arms could perceive it.
"Mori Tsukisa."
The girl looked up, slightly surprised.
"Mori Tsukisa." Nagini murmured: "Are you afraid?"
"When you blocked the spell for me."
"Knowing it was a Death Curse, do you regret it?"
"Regret what?" Mori Tsukisa slightly shifted into a more comfortable position, playing with Nagini's long hair with her index finger: "Regret saving you?"
Mori Tsukisa knew what Nagini truly wanted to ask, but this question had no answer.
"Nagini, I saw you."
This sentence seemed to transport the two of them back to the menagerie that day.
Mori Tsukisa stood outside, and Nagini remained inside.
At their first meeting, the girl smiled carelessly, and that handful of Fire subtly and densely permeated Nagini's chilling heart.
She said: "I see you."
The small boat rocked gently... "Just this reason?" Nagini whispered.
"Nagini, have you ever had this feeling?" Mori Tsukisa changed the subject: "You see a small hairpin, and it's sitting in a display window. You have things to do, maybe work in the afternoon, or you haven't eaten yet and your stomach is rumbling."
"Your friend is urging you to hurry up; there are many carriages on the road, driving dangerously close to your shoulder."
"But... when you see that hairpin, just one glance."
"You just know, I want it! I like this hairpin!"
"That's the one!"
Mori Tsukisa sat up from Nagini's embrace, looking at the woman face-to-face, her eyes filled with flowing silver and brilliant radiance.
"Have you ever felt this way?"
"Nagini."
The woman and Mori Tsukisa looked into each other's eyes.
Suddenly, she smiled.
The soft smile took over her cold and beautiful face, like the cracked, barren earth after a war, which, in a Child's fantastical imagination, breaks through the fragile soil, allowing a sea of purple roses to bloom from the dry fissures.
The woman stood in the Sea of Roses, beautiful with sincere conviction, like a lazy ball of solidified midsummer Sun.
"Yes, I have felt this way, Mori Tsukisa."
"Once."
"That day, when a girl came to the menagerie and reached out her hand to me."
A seductive and charming song suddenly rang out, and the people on the boat all turned their heads—
Nagini hugged her knees, singing softly with sighs that followed the undulations of the Water: her voice elegantly slid across the surface, penetrating the mist, floating serenely and ethereally toward a distant place unseen by the others...
'I remember when I was small.'
'I also followed the rules of this World.'
'Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness; joy, anger, sorrow, happiness.'
'I quietly hid them under my covers.'
'After my father disappeared, the doll broke;'
'After my mother was killed, the whips and rods of men swung down upon me.'
'How exactly did they deceive me?'
'Yet in the end, they didn't even care to deceive me anymore.'
'Excluding me, abusing me, tempting me, burying me.'
'Hurting me, striking me, insulting me, hating me.'
'I am but a cursed one who cannot help herself...'
'Yet I became a pet snake for others' amusement and wanton insult.'
'But you told me that you saw me.'
'Swearing to heal me.'
'Without avoiding me.'
'Liking me, holding me... being close to me.'
'When everything fell apart...'
'You blocked for me.'
'So...'
'I see you.'
'Just as you also seriously...'
'Saw me.'
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